Education, ethics and values : A response to Peter Blaze Corcoran’s keynote address, EEASA 2003
- Authors: van Harmelen, Ursula
- Date: 2003
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6099 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008663
- Description: This paper is written in response to the Keynote Adress on the Earth Charter presented by Peter Blaze Corcoran at the EEASA 2003 Conference in Namibia. It draws attention to the significance of ethical debates in education and emphasises the need for careful attention to the way in which educators approach values education. In particular the paper considers the Earth Charter critically, and notes that while there is much value in the principles of the Earth Charter for guiding educational practice, educators should also consider some of the dilemmas of simply appropriating univeral ethical frameworks to guide practice.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2003
- Authors: van Harmelen, Ursula
- Date: 2003
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6099 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008663
- Description: This paper is written in response to the Keynote Adress on the Earth Charter presented by Peter Blaze Corcoran at the EEASA 2003 Conference in Namibia. It draws attention to the significance of ethical debates in education and emphasises the need for careful attention to the way in which educators approach values education. In particular the paper considers the Earth Charter critically, and notes that while there is much value in the principles of the Earth Charter for guiding educational practice, educators should also consider some of the dilemmas of simply appropriating univeral ethical frameworks to guide practice.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2003
Where has all the Geography gone? : a social constructivist perspective of Curriculum 2005
- Authors: van Harmelen, Ursula
- Date: 1999
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6092 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008614
- Description: The apparently tenuous position of geography in Curriculum 2005 suggests the need to reassess the nature and role of geographical education for the South African learner. The new curriculum is designed to provide a general education experience and this paper therefore considers geography's role within this framework. In so doing it raises questions that impact on the view we take of geography within Curriculum 2005 and explores the implications for teaching and learning within this educational band. For many learners in South Africa geography is seen as little more than 'book knowledge'. Not only has the content been de-contextualised from the learner's reality, but also the method of learning is largely dependent on the rote learning of a frightening array of facts from a single textbook or teacher designed notes. However, the learner-centred approach adopted by Curriculum 2005 creates considerable possibilities for the development of geographical understanding in the sense of making meaning, problem solving and the development of creative and critical thinking. The situation of geographical education in the GET band of Curriculum 2005 presents geography educators and teacher educators with considerable challenges and demands a radical shift in perspective in terms of what constitutes geographical knowledge in this band as well as its acquisition. The paper argues that a social constructivist approach within the 'new' systems theory, creates possibilities for learners to acquire the conceptual understanding, skills, values and attitudes needed as a foundation for further learning in geography and to enable them to function effectively and responsibly in space-place and time.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 1999
- Authors: van Harmelen, Ursula
- Date: 1999
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6092 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008614
- Description: The apparently tenuous position of geography in Curriculum 2005 suggests the need to reassess the nature and role of geographical education for the South African learner. The new curriculum is designed to provide a general education experience and this paper therefore considers geography's role within this framework. In so doing it raises questions that impact on the view we take of geography within Curriculum 2005 and explores the implications for teaching and learning within this educational band. For many learners in South Africa geography is seen as little more than 'book knowledge'. Not only has the content been de-contextualised from the learner's reality, but also the method of learning is largely dependent on the rote learning of a frightening array of facts from a single textbook or teacher designed notes. However, the learner-centred approach adopted by Curriculum 2005 creates considerable possibilities for the development of geographical understanding in the sense of making meaning, problem solving and the development of creative and critical thinking. The situation of geographical education in the GET band of Curriculum 2005 presents geography educators and teacher educators with considerable challenges and demands a radical shift in perspective in terms of what constitutes geographical knowledge in this band as well as its acquisition. The paper argues that a social constructivist approach within the 'new' systems theory, creates possibilities for learners to acquire the conceptual understanding, skills, values and attitudes needed as a foundation for further learning in geography and to enable them to function effectively and responsibly in space-place and time.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 1999
Challenging geography: a South African perspective
- Irwin, Patrick R, van Harmelen, Ursula
- Authors: Irwin, Patrick R , van Harmelen, Ursula
- Date: 1995
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/450132 , vital:74885 , https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/ielapa.960403836
- Description: Few teachers and learners have any 'sense of ownership' of 'the place' in which school geography is located. Notwithstand-ing the apparent neutrality of a subject that is concerned with information about climate, settlement, or the economy, these 'geographies' have until now been located, in a political and physical landscape of a South Africa that did not 'belong' to the people at large. This has effectively meant that geography has been taught from a perspective that is perceived to be alien and even hostile, and is therefore often considered to be irrel-evant. Teaching resources and strategies have served to strengthen this sense of alienation. Textbooks are, in style and content, almost exclusively situated in a white South Africa of which many pupils have little or no experience. Furthermore, because geography has been taught 'from a book' with field-work the exception rather than the rule, few children have any concept of geography as' that which is all around us' (Mapha-phuli 1992; King 1994). It is part of the missed opportunities of South African geography that indigenous cultural concepts re-lating to the notion of place have not been widely recognised. The combination of a lack of a sense of political ownership and perceived 'eurocentricity' has had a further impact on the atti-tudes of pupils and learners.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1995
- Authors: Irwin, Patrick R , van Harmelen, Ursula
- Date: 1995
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/450132 , vital:74885 , https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/ielapa.960403836
- Description: Few teachers and learners have any 'sense of ownership' of 'the place' in which school geography is located. Notwithstand-ing the apparent neutrality of a subject that is concerned with information about climate, settlement, or the economy, these 'geographies' have until now been located, in a political and physical landscape of a South Africa that did not 'belong' to the people at large. This has effectively meant that geography has been taught from a perspective that is perceived to be alien and even hostile, and is therefore often considered to be irrel-evant. Teaching resources and strategies have served to strengthen this sense of alienation. Textbooks are, in style and content, almost exclusively situated in a white South Africa of which many pupils have little or no experience. Furthermore, because geography has been taught 'from a book' with field-work the exception rather than the rule, few children have any concept of geography as' that which is all around us' (Mapha-phuli 1992; King 1994). It is part of the missed opportunities of South African geography that indigenous cultural concepts re-lating to the notion of place have not been widely recognised. The combination of a lack of a sense of political ownership and perceived 'eurocentricity' has had a further impact on the atti-tudes of pupils and learners.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1995
The administration and organisation of independent study topics with special reference to secondary school geography
- Authors: van Harmelen, Ursula
- Date: 1992
- Subjects: Geography -- Study and teaching (Secondary) , Project method in teaching
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1419 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003300
- Description: Traditional school subjects are having to compete for a place in a curriculum which is increasingly judged according to its perceived utilitarian value. According to current educational theory, geography's role in the curriculum is to develop concepts, skills, values and attitudes that allow pupils to understand the human and environmental issues which face their communities and communities throughout the world. In order to achieve these aims, teachers need to adopt a learner-centred teaching approach, yet geography teachers are faced with the dilemma of having to develop participatory teaching strategies within an existing structure which is largely product oriented. This thesis attempts to illustrate how changes can be effected in the approach to the teaching of geography, while working within existing syllabus constraints and while continuing to meet the demands made by the current examination system. To this end, Independent Study Topics are analysed as a means to bring about the desired changes in geographical education. The concept, Independent Study Topics as a 'blanket term' (Diepeveen, 1986) for pupil-centred activities is relatively recent in terms of the South African geography syllabus. In order to obtain greater clarity about the concept and its implications for geography teaching, this study examines current geographical theory relating to learner-centred approaches and relates them to teachers' perceptions of the role of IST in the geography curriculum. The second aspect of the study is concerned with the implementation of Independent Study Topics in a classroom research setting. The organisation and administration of Independent Study Topics in a single school setting is analysed and evaluated as a process of change. This analysis provides guidelines for developing a learner-centred approach which is necessary to ensure that geography retains its position in the school curriculum of the 1990's and beyond.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1992
- Authors: van Harmelen, Ursula
- Date: 1992
- Subjects: Geography -- Study and teaching (Secondary) , Project method in teaching
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1419 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003300
- Description: Traditional school subjects are having to compete for a place in a curriculum which is increasingly judged according to its perceived utilitarian value. According to current educational theory, geography's role in the curriculum is to develop concepts, skills, values and attitudes that allow pupils to understand the human and environmental issues which face their communities and communities throughout the world. In order to achieve these aims, teachers need to adopt a learner-centred teaching approach, yet geography teachers are faced with the dilemma of having to develop participatory teaching strategies within an existing structure which is largely product oriented. This thesis attempts to illustrate how changes can be effected in the approach to the teaching of geography, while working within existing syllabus constraints and while continuing to meet the demands made by the current examination system. To this end, Independent Study Topics are analysed as a means to bring about the desired changes in geographical education. The concept, Independent Study Topics as a 'blanket term' (Diepeveen, 1986) for pupil-centred activities is relatively recent in terms of the South African geography syllabus. In order to obtain greater clarity about the concept and its implications for geography teaching, this study examines current geographical theory relating to learner-centred approaches and relates them to teachers' perceptions of the role of IST in the geography curriculum. The second aspect of the study is concerned with the implementation of Independent Study Topics in a classroom research setting. The organisation and administration of Independent Study Topics in a single school setting is analysed and evaluated as a process of change. This analysis provides guidelines for developing a learner-centred approach which is necessary to ensure that geography retains its position in the school curriculum of the 1990's and beyond.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1992
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